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Everything Takes Longer Than It Does

One of my first jobs out of college was working for UCLA UniCamp as the SAIL Program Director. The Executive Director asked me to help get the boats into the water for the season, which meant driving out to where they were stored, towing them to the marina, getting them set up and ready to sail, and then getting them into the water. I didn’t realize all the steps involved when I said I would be able to help on a Saturday morning, and was frustrated when we were still working into the late afternoon. I was kind of complaining to Pops (the ED) about how I didn’t realize I had committed my whole Saturday when I agreed to help out. He looked at me and said “Yup, everything takes longer than it does.”
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Have you ever set out to do something tremendously simple like go to the grocery store to grab napkins and next thing you know half your weekend is gone? Exactly. We need to be more realistic with out understanding of time, and be more empathetic to ourselves and others.
At work, I’m often frustrated when I get caught up in the day to day the pace at which things get done. In a given day I’ll have eight or nine things I really want to get done, and I’ll feel defeated if I only get to three. When I take a step back to see all the different projects moving forward and get a more holistic view of what’s happening, I’m almost always blown away by how much is getting done.
Of course you wanted to launch that product on the 1st, but the parts didn’t come til the 28th. I know that you want to have a manager hired by now, but we didn’t find anyone ready for the role. Yes, the deadline you set for your direct report was very reasonable, but they got caught up with other tasks and didn’t complete it in time.
It’s ok. Everything takes longer than it does.
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“Do it to do it, not to have done it.”
If you can fall in love with the process - the act of doing - you will accomplish much more than if you fall in love with the outcome of your efforts. It’s not like once you get a dream job, dream partner, or dream house your life is complete! There’s always going to be another mountain, and you’re always going to want to make it move.
This is a fun clip from Adam Savage that I’m personally attached to because I was lucky enough to be in the room when he gave the talk. It’s a great example of doing something because you love the process, rather than being attached to the end result:
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